Sugar, Spice, and all things Bright and Wonderful
by Haruka Minamino
Summary: Random drabbles featuring what is fast becoming my OT3. Or, Chibiusa has too big a heart, and so she has more than enough room for two.


Sailor Saturn and Helios looked on at the beaten princess in black. With piercing red eyes and a permanent snarl on her lips, Lady Serenity — or Black Lady, as she preferred to be called right now — didn't let something like being tossed by an energy ball stop her from getting annoyed. Who did these two think they were, trying to stall her from destroying the controls that kept the Time Gate locked now that Sailor Pluto was no longer around to guard it? They were but flies, she knew. Her power surged in her veins, the wand at her left hand glowing a bright yellow.

"Maiden, we know you're in there somewhere…" the fair-haired, white garbed man with the horn called out softly. He stretched his hand out to her, his eyes crinkling as he tried out a smile. "Please don't fight us, we're only here to bring you home."

"Home? Really? Where I'll be imprisoned for wanting to live a life of my own? Where I'll be nothing more than a chess piece that the Queen can use and then hide when she no longer needs me?" she spat, acid in her words.

"No," the dark-haired, long-limbed girl beside him shook her head. She bore almost the same smile, though her eyes were gleaming as she gently brought her Silence Glaive down one side, walking closer to her. "Home, Usa-chan … where you and Helios and I can enjoy being together without worrying about getting the Time Stream all screwed up."

"Where _we_ can carve out the lives we want for ourselves," he nodded firmly.

Why wouldn't they give in to the urge to smile that was showing so plainly on their faces? Was this how it was going to be now, now that she was already playing diplomat and soldier and Crystal Millennium Princess? Back then,_back then_, the three of them could tumble together and not care about shoes flying or skirts and shirts bouncing, could stay up into the wee hours of the morning talking about anything and nothing at all. It all seemed so long ago, and yet it had only been a freaking_ month _since she had had her coming-of-age party, and but a year since she took her last trip through the Time Gate. (But Plu was there then, not being reborn through the Galaxy Cauldron, and_then_ the Gate had also held Mamoru and Usagi and Ikuko-mama and Kenji-papa and hell even Shingo-niichan…)

"Usa … Lady Serenity … _Lady_…" Sailor Saturn said, leaning forward into Black Lady's space, her fingers seeking the rose-haired princess' arm. Her eyes darted around. "I know what that's like, to be used as a means to an end. I know what it feels to not belong anywhere, at any time. _You know that_, right?"

Lady hated that she and this Guardian knew each other so well, in many ways that even the Queensguard did not know the Guardian of Death and Rebirth (not the ones that raised her, not the ones that saved her) and yet she was still duty-bound to the Queen, Lady's own mother.

Helios soon stepped forward, leaning over them both. "Lady, we understand … it can't be easy holding all of the Kingdom and its principalities on your shoulders." His eyes drew half-shut, then he brought them up to her face again. "And even if we don't, can we at least convince you that we'll be around to hold your shoulders up?"

She blinked in surprise, but that was soon chased away by frustration, because even if he had been her father's guardian priest (with release from duties only granted by their powers upon the King's death since it was his essence that had kept the priest alive), he was willing to again be indentured into service for _her _and under her.

When it became clear that Black Lady wouldn't budge, the priest straightened up and gently held Sailor Saturn by the waist. "She doesn't know we're here, you know … we just hoped we could at least make you reconsider," the Guardian of Death and Rebirth sighed.

Helios shook his head, smiling sadly. "She'll come around."

As they began to walk back to the Palace, she realized something: could she ever say no to these two, when they left her parents' employ — those same parents who they owed much of their lives to — just to run after her?

Before she knew it, Black Lady was bringing herself up to stand and walk towards them. The motion didn't go unnoticed.

"About time!" Saturn grinned in triumph, placing her left hand over her hip. The priest beside her simply beamed, his hand stretching out for their dearest Lady once again.


End file.
